But at the age of 89, the state’s most famous attorney—and one of the wealthiest—is still dropping f-bombs and crushing his opposing counsel. Can someone get this man another Scotch? Jamail, photographed in his downtown Houston office on November 24, 2014.
No racial/ethnic group constitutes a majority of the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Metropolitan Statistical Area (Houston MSA). The Houston MSA is home to the nation’s fourth-largest Hispanic/Latino population at more than 2.7 million.
Hugh Rice Kelly is a co-founder of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the lobbying group behind the mid-nineties push that reined in the plaintiff’s bar, and he says attorneys like Jamail were never the problem. “Monstrous jury awards aren’t offensive if they’re supported by evidence,” says Kelly.
The Houston attorney, renowned as one of the state’s most aggressive litigators, generous philanthropists, ready Scotch drinkers, and artful deployers of the word “motherfucker”—and quite possibly the greatest trial lawyer in American history—was born in 1925.
The motion was argued before Judge Ron Clark, a George W. Bush appointee who’d been a favorite of the tort reform lobby when he served in the Texas House in the nineties.
Yet there Jamail was, in a Beaumont courtroom in December 2013, sitting first chair at the plaintiff’s table in another wrongful death trial. In a blue suit and pink tie, he was leaning forward on folded arms, with a white legal pad, black felt-tip pen, and knobby cane laid out in front of him.
The black box in his truck showed that Kerr had never applied the brakes. At the point of impact, he’d been traveling 72 miles per hour , the maximum speed allowed by a device on the truck’s engine, despite federal regulations that require commercial haulers to use caution in bad weather.
J oe Jamail should not have as much going on as he does. The Houston attorney, renowned as one of the state’s most aggressive litigators, generous philanthropists, ready Scotch drinkers, and artful deployers of the word “motherfucker”—and quite possibly the greatest trial lawyer in American history—was born in 1925.
Kerr wasn’t a bad driver , he was merely one of a hundred motorists who crashed that morning upon encountering a sudden, mysterious fog. But oddly, Edwards failed to express any sympathy for the deceased. The jurors, who’d looked genuinely saddened by the end of Ferguson’s presentation, hardened as Edwards talked on.
Just because you or members of your family come from a country other than the United States does not give your employer or co-workers the right to discriminate against you.
Blatant racism in the workplace still exists. There are still employees who are the target of racial epithets from co-workers and supervisors, and these employees have the right to seek compensation for the mistreatment they have encountered. However, much of the race discrimination that occurs in the workplace today is more subtle.
Federal law protects employees and job applicants from discrimination based on national origin. This kind of discrimination is not acceptable, and if you have experienced it, do not hesitate to contact a skilled and knowledgeable employment law attorney.